Chapter Two: Everyone Knew My Ex-Girlfriend

Lin returned to the store and pulled up the security footage. At 2:17 a.m., he had not scratched a ticket. A man with his face, wearing the gray suit, sat behind the counter arguing with a woman in red. She slapped him, picked up the lottery ticket, then set it down again. Tang, the morning clerk, leaned toward the screen. “Sister He came back? Brother Lin, you broke up two years ago. When will this end?” “Who is she?” Tang's smile vanished. “Su He. Your ex. You dumped her to go to Singapore. Everyone knows.” Lin had never had a girlfriend. Yet his locker contained a woman's hair tie and two old cinema stubs. On the back was a message: If you ever forget me, go to Number 19, Seven-Code Alley.